Best Selling Books by Anne-Marie O

Irish Guardianship Law and Practice outlines the features of the new guardianship system due to be introduced into Irish law by the proposed Mental Capacity Bill, which replaces the old system of wardship with effect from the commencement of the enacted legislation. The book clearly sets out the issues which arise when it is proposed to take a person into guardianship and what happens after a person is taken into guardianship. The book also deals with the creation and enforcement of enduring powers of attorney and advance directives.

This long awaited book offers practical guidelines to legal practitioners, medical practitioners, health professionals, social workers, carers, parents and people with mental disabilities in dealing with the issues which arise when it is proposed to make a person a ward of court and when a person is admitted to wardship.

A EXTRAORDINÁRIA HISTÓRIA DA OBRA-PRIMA DE GUSTAV KLIMT: O RETRATO DE ADELE BLOCH-BAUER É o retrato de uma época, do esplendor de Paris e Viena e da desgraça que se seguiu no pós-guerra: a perseguição e o extermínio dos judeus. Gustav Klimt, um dos maiores pintores de todos os tempos, era considerado um rebelde no final do século XIX, em Viena, quando pintou a sedutora aristocrata Adele Bloch-Bauer. Este livro é também a história da família Bloch-Bauer, de banqueiros judeus e todo o sofrimento desse povo. A dama dourada revela a saga desse quadro conhecido como O retrato de Adele Bloch-Bauer. A jornalista Anne-Marie O''Connor descreve como foi confiscado pelos nazistas e a disputa internacional entre o governo austríaco e a sobrinha de Adele anos depois.

Untreated depression in pregnancy may result in adverse health outcomes to both the mother and her unborn child. Pharmacotherapy with antidepressants is the most common treatment option for depression; however, the decision to treat with medication becomes complicated by pregnancy. Risk benefit assessments are critical tools to guide the treatment decision. Factors that should be included in these analyses include the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antidepressants in pregnancy and their maternal and fetal safety. The economic cost of untreated maternal depression is also important to keep in mind. When the pharmacokinetics of the antidepressants venlafaxine and bupropion were studied in pregnancy it was found that the apparent oral clearance rate of bupropion was increased in late pregnancy when compared to early pregnancy (p = 0.03). There was a trend for lower area under the curve for these medications when the third trimester was compared to the first trimester. When the metabolism of antidepressants was investigated using hair analysis it was found that there was increased metabolism in pregnancy when compared to the postpartum period for citalopram (p = 0.02) but not venlafaxine (p = 0.77). Follow up of depressive symptoms throughout pregnancy identified that depression scores were highest in the first trimester of pregnancy, which may be due to concurrent nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. A meta-analysis of paroxetine use in early pregnancy demonstrated that there was no increased risk for cardiac malformations; case-control studies had an odds ratio of 1.18 (CI95: 0.88--1.59) while a weighted average difference of 0.3% was found in case-control studies (CI95: -0.1--0.7%, p = 0.19) The direct medical costs incurred by the Ontario government due to discontinuation of antidepressant medications in pregnancy was estimated to exceed $20,000,000 CAD. The management of depression in pregnancy with pharmacotherapy is an important and complex issue. My study documents the advantages of conducting risk benefit assessments for vulnerable populations such as pregnant women with depression.

The treatment of individuals with multiple chronic conditions represents the single largest driver of Medicare costs. The use of prescription drugs is a major component in the treatment/management of chronic disease in the United States. Medication nonadherence, however, is a common problem among older adults and leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Whereas, the problem of medication nonadherence has been a primary focus of research for the last thirty years, much is still unknown about which older adults are most at risk for medication nonadherence, as well as what are effective theory-based interventions to improve a person''s medication self-management. The purpose of this descriptive explanatory study was to better understand the self-management behavior, medication adherence, in a sample of frail urban older adults. The study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze data from a larger twelve-month study of a nurse care coordination intervention. Ryan and Sawin''s (2009) Individual and Family Self-Management Theory served as the study''s conceptual framework for identifying the context and processes involved in the older adults'' medication self-management. Quantitative results found several individual- as well as family-level predictors for medication nonadherence. Qualitative analyses identified three overarching themes to describe the participants'' struggles along the multistep process of medication adherence. Additionally, a cultural domain described the need for more information from participants to understand their nonadherence. Integration of the results further increased our understanding of medication-self management in these frail older adults, and offers direction for clinical practice and future research.

Sometimes friendship comes with a heavy price tag.

The efficacy and safety of 4% amethocaine for reducing the pain of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination was investigated in a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study. One hundred and twenty infants receiving their routine 12-month MMR vaccination were recruited and randomized to receive 1g of amethocaine or placebo 30 minutes prior to vaccination. The Modified Behavioural Pain Scale (MBPS) was the primary pain outcome measure. A blood sample was collected from infants 1 month post-vaccination to assess antibody titers. The amethocaine group (n = 61) had significantly lower pain scores than the placebo group (n = 59); 1.51 vs. 2.29 (p = 0.029). The rate of vaccination success (antibody titers considered protective against disease) was similar between treatment groups; 87% and 88% respectively (p = 0.823). Amethocaine 4% gel significantly reduced the pain associated with MMR vaccination in one year old infants when compared to placebo; development of protective antibody levels was not affected.